Regrets do not Become You
by LadyStarFire
Summary: Amalthia has returned to her forest, but with an unexpected and perhaps unwelcome tagalong. Zephyr follows her and forces her to face emotions that she had wanted to bury within her after she lost Lear, but what will come of the unicorn's friendship?
1. Regrets

Regrets  
  
She was the Lady Amalthia, unicorn and human. None of the other unicorns could have realized what a sacrifice she had made for their release from the Red Bull, and no human could understand what it is like to love and be forever parted from love. Caught in between two very different worlds, she was a very confused being.  
  
A soft whinny from behind the unicorn shook Amalthia from her thoughts of past times. A stallion stood behind her, his coat light silver that matched his eyes, his horn was white as his mane and tail.  
  
She bent her head as she turned towards him, smiling a little when he nuzzled her.  
  
"You have that look again."  
  
"And what look is that, Zephyr?" Amalthia's tone was sharper than she would have liked.  
  
"Have you been thinking of that human again?"  
  
"It isn't any of your concern."  
  
"Oh, but it is. The elders were very impressed when you saved us from the Bull, Starmane."  
  
"Don't you dare call me that!"  
  
"It is your name."  
  
She turned away from him, pacing restlessly. "It was my name..." She replied softly.  
  
"And still is."  
  
Her snort cut him off. "Never again. Starmane is no more, as I've told you many times."  
  
"And who is this Amalthia you keep mentioning?"  
  
"I am."  
  
"You're Starmane."  
  
"I will have nothing to do with that life!"  
  
"St- Amalthia... please tell me what's troubling you."  
  
"Why do you care so much? You share my forest, sir, not my life." Amalthia backed away from him.  
  
"You know I would have it otherwise."  
  
With a sharp whinny of fear Amalthia turned and ran. Zephyr watched her go, his silver eyes clouded with shadows.

The stallion paced by his pool, staring at nothing and everything as he thought. It was hard remembering all their long years trapped in the sea by the crimson sentinel, but for now he felt those memories needed to be brought back. Perhaps they would lead him to the end of the puzzle he had come to know as Amalthia.  
  
He had been a foal when the Bull came for them, just beginning to taste what his adulthood would be like. Then his herd had been driven to the sea to prance about on the waves for the Old One's delight.  
  
None of the others liked the sea, but for a long time he had played in the shallows everyday without a single sorrow. There were so many wonders, such as the tiny fish that lived in shells or the bits of coral that sometimes appeared near the shores. He loved how the tiny fish would dart around his hooves as he played with the other colts, trying so see which one could get closest to shore. Most of them got too scared to continue long before they reached their goal.  
  
But as the years faded Zephyr came to hate the sea and it's dangers, but he especially hated the Old One in his tower and his pet, the Bull. What right had they to imprison the unicorns?  
  
It seemed as though nothing would ever change. Many of the elders had given up all hope of returning to the forests where they belonged, but some of the youngest of our herd still dreamed of fresh green grass to roll in. Then one night he looked into the sky and the Bull was chasing something white and more beautiful than anything Zephyr had ever seen.  
  
Amalthia had never known the sea, only the cool green of the forest. She was wise and innocent... and full of untold pain. She ran from the Bull but he chased her to the water like he did the rest of us, and he had tried to cry out to her, to give her hope, just as he knew all the other unicorns were trying to do. But she did not hear them.  
  
He saw her magician change her into a human, and he watched her as she watched the see from her tower, unaware of her brethren in the depths. And he'd watched that... human... confess his love for her, make an idiot out of himself to draw her attention. Worse, he saw her emotions only complemented the human's.  
  
Zephyr had always believed that they would return to their trees. Now he drifted on the waves, as hopeless as the elders. Their one chance had passed, and there would never be another way out.  
  
And yet, the impossible had been accomplished. Amalthia returned in her true form and defeated the Bull, freeing them from their prison and destroying the Old One's castle. He had stayed behind. He had watched her heal the human and run to her forest, and he had followed her.  
  
At first, she had shied away from him and refused to let him live anywhere near her. But all the other forests had unicorns, more than they could spare, and hers was the only one that could handle another. And Zephyr was the only one willing to take the empty space in her life.  
  
But the beautiful Amalthia was not like the other mares that he had met in the ocean. Her eyes... they held such regret and heartbreak that Zephyr just wanted to run the human through who had done this to her. No unicorn should suffer as much as she was.  
  
When he mentioned this to her once, for a moment her eyes lit with a fire that must have filled them before her fight with the Bull. "I cannot sorrow. Unicorns have returned." She had said. But later she still had the same, lost look.  
  
Zephyr sighed softly. There had to be a way to help her, to win her. There were times when he cursed the fact that unicorns fall in love very easily. Even more often he cursed the faithfulness of that love.  
  
Amalthia had to have something she wanted besides that human. He simply needed to find what that something was.

Well, that's it for now. I may write another chapter if this one turns out to be any good, but normally I write for other sections and this particular one is sort of odd to write for, despite my interest in the subject. Anyway, I hope that you like it so far, and I really appreciate any comments you have. hint hint


	2. The Chase is Half the Fun

The Chase is Half the Fun  
  
Zephyr had an even harder time finding Amalthia this time, but he finally did find her beneath a grove of willows, her white mane fading slowly into the weeping green of the branches. Her purple eyes were closed as peacefully as if she was asleep, and he was hesitant to wake her from even this moment of peace she seemed to have found.  
  
But peace could not last forever. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at him, as though she had always known that he had been watching her. He found himself frozen in her amethyst gaze before she half turned away, letting out her breath wearily.  
  
"What is it you want of me, Zephyr?"  
  
He was taken aback by the despair in her tone. "To talk."  
  
"And what could I possible have to say that you would be interested in?"  
  
"What happened to Starmane?"  
  
She didn't speak for so long that he thought she would not answer. "She is the unicorn I was before I became human."  
  
"You are not human now."  
  
"But I know human emotion. You cannot imagine what regrets are like, they are infinitely more painful than sorrow could ever be."  
  
"Then why do you hide the pain, keep it to yourself? Why not let another help you through it?"  
  
"Because... because I am not human. He cannot help me anymore than he has."  
  
If the human she spoke of had been before Zephyr at that very moment, he would gladly have run the other male through with his horn. "Humans are not the only ones that matter. You can wait for him all you want, cling to humanity all you want, but he will not come and find you."  
  
"You do not know him."  
  
"Starmane, he is human. Humans cannot understand what it is like to be a unicorn, to be free and unfettered as we of the forest are. He can never understand you."  
  
"Neither can you understand me, Zephyr. I will not let you."  
  
The determination in her eyes made his heart sing. "Gallop with me."  
  
That, at least set her off balance. "What...?"  
  
"Gallop with me. Run through the trees again; outrun the wind and the moon. Forget for now your troubles, just for a moment." He sensed her uncertainty and lowered his voice, almost pleading. "Please, Amalthia?"  
  
Violet eyes considered his silver ones for a moment before she nipped playfully at him and ran.  
  
He let her gain a head start before he bounded after her, past trees and mountains and the other animals of the forest, forgetting everything except that he needed to catch up to his beloved. Zephyr could only hope that she felt the same way.  
  
She ran much faster than he recalled, and he was beginning to have trouble keeping up with her by the time she finally slowed near the edge of the forest, flicking her tail and prancing about like a young filly. Zephyr smiled, recognizing Starmane in her eyes again instead of simply Amalthia, the human woman with human attachments.  
  
He came forward and nipped at her mane, nuzzling her gently. She watched him carefully, the whites of her eyes beginning to show, and he backed away and lay down in the long, cool grass of the forest.  
  
Starmane lay next to him slowly, ready to bolt at any moment, but he didn't move at all.  
  
Then a hunter and his dog entered the forest, and Starmane retreated deep into the mind of Amalthia, letting the human girl take over again. She rose quickly and ran again, this time not out of enjoyment but out of fear.  
  
Zephyr's head drooped in disappointment. Perhaps there was no getting through to the unicorn trapped inside of her. Perhaps the woman who was once called Amalthia would always cling to her regrets and bitter wishes until the humans she ached for were long since dust and forgotten by all but her. Perhaps there was nothing he could do to rid her of this torment.  
  
He remembered their run. He remembered seeing her take on the Bull alone. And somehow he knew that he would never give up. There was a way to get through to her, and he would find it, even if it meant his own eternal torment. 


	3. Healing

Healing

Zephyr paced silently by his favorite pool in the forest, aware distantly of the eyes that followed his every movement from the trees. True, the eyes did not belong to his lovely Amalthia, but they were oddly comforting. He stopped pacing, his silver gaze locked on the amber eyes of an owl that sat half-concealed in leaves and branches. The owl blinked slowly and Zephyr continued his pacing, amazed at the sense of peace that one act of service could bring to him.

The hunter who disturbed his moment with his white lady had left long ago, and he still had seen no sign of Amalthia. The forest was not all that large, but she knew it far better than he ever might so there were probably a thousand places she could hide where he would never think to look for her. Besides, if he pressed her to hard then she would turn him away; chase him from her wood. And truly, there was no place else for him to go but here so he would surely die out in the world of man.

A light step brought his attention back to the wayward mare as she drank deeply from the pool beside him, ignoring his presence. He let her drink her fill before warily approaching her. "My lady?"

She reared her head up, looking at him with started fawn eyes as though she had seen a ghost. "Why did you call me that?"

"I… I heard the mouse woman call you that once. If you are so bent on living this half life, then… I was only trying to help."

"Molly." The amethysts softened and shone. "Yes, she called me that, as did the magician and Lear…"

"Can you tell me about him?"

"Oh, the magician is an interesting fellow, if you ever get a chance to meet him personally you should for he is humorous and kind. He's a good deal like you, Zephyr."

Inwardly he recoiled. He did not want her to think him kind and funny, but… well, he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted her to think, but practically anything would be better than that. "No, my lady. Of the prince."

"Why would you want to know?" She regarded him suspiciously.

"Because it may help you to speak of him, even only in memory, and perhaps it will help me to understand you better."

"I don't want you to understand me." Her flat refusal stung, but he still refused to show it.

"Amalthia, please. If we are to share this forest, we shall be immortal neighbors. I don't want my only companion for eternity to be a stranger."

"Then find yourself another mare from another forest."

"No other forest can support me living there, and traveling between them is dangerous. I would never put any mare in the kind of danger that presents and neither can I risk it to see her since I may end up only disappointing her with my death."

She stood silent and trembling. "Curse you for being right. Fine. Lear was… very handsome. He tried everything to woo me, from killing dragons to solving riddles to bumbling over verses in his sleep to win my favor."

"If favor was won over deeds alone, my lady, I would not have this human competition in my wooing of you."

"Zephyr, please stop. We are not going to argue about this silly infatuation right now, especially if you really want to hear about Lear." He began to say something then shut his mouth, snapping angrily. She watched him for a moment, unimpressed, then continued with her story. "Yes, I could not be won by deeds, Zephyr. But there was something about him that just… his eyes, blue as cobalt and deep as oceans, and so very expressive. There was emotions there I'd never dreamed of, much less felt. It was magic I have never known, to learn what he knew and to do what I could never do as a unicorn. Even at the time, part of me knew it was dangerous, and I was risking both of our lives by my actions, but really I didn't care. I wanted those emotions, I wanted that human to try them out on, and I loved it almost as much as I love him. It didn't start that way, but… I'm not even sure how exactly it happened, it just did."

"I can understand that." Zephyr's tone was quiet and reserved, and he slowly nuzzled her neck, offering what comfort he could give. "Then you still wish to retain your human self because you are afraid that losing her will destroy you, since you have learned so much and loved so much that losing that would be losing yourself."

She seemed puzzled that he had seen her emotions so clearly, but since they nearly mirrored his own it was hardly difficult for him to understand. "Yes, you're… you're right." Amalthia did not pull away and Zephyr let his head rest on her shoulder, nearly jumping out of his skin when he felt her do the same. Ah, this was what he had wanted, needed, all these years, just to be together with the mare of his dreams, holding her and offering her his comfort, his self, and being accepted without reservations for the first time that she had met him.

Inevitably, another man entered the forest just then, and Amalthia raised her head so suddenly her horn scratched his back a bit. She did not notice, but galloped towards the man, her eyes lit like lanterns. And Zephyr followed after her, ignoring the silvery blood beginning to flow on his back as he galloped beside her. For that joy could only mean one thing: Lear had come to visit.


End file.
